The Breitling Watch Blog

The new Glashutte Senator Chronometer is the first Glashutte Original watch to be certified by Germany’s DIN 8319 standard, which is the Germany’s equivalent standard to COSC certification. COSC only certifies Swiss made watches, so this was a necessary step to certify the rate results of German movements.

The watches are tested by an independent company called DKD (German Calibrating Service), and are tested using almost identical conditions as COSC tests.

Aside from the certification, the watch is classic Glashutte Original, with an exceptionally beautiful handwind movement, the caliber 58-01. The movement features the classic Glashutte ¾ plate, with gold setting and hand-engraved balance cock. The watch also features a chronometer grade screw balance and swans neck fine adjustment. Some of the complications included on this watch are the power reserve indicator, panorama date, small seconds and zero-reset crown for the seconds which is a very cool feature and favourite of Glashutte Original.

The Senator Chronometer also has a wonderfully understated and elegant dial, and perfectly machined Solid 18k Gold Double butterfly deployant. MSRP on this watch is $26,900 in Rose Gold and $28,000 in White Gold – So I will likely not be getting one of these anytime soon. Too bad, because I love it!

Sure seems like it. Breitlingsource used to be top 10 on Google search results for the term “Breitling”, which in my opinion makes sense since its the largest english-speaking resource and forum dedicated to Breitling. In the last month or so, I noticed traffic had dropped dramatically to my site and couldn’t figure out why. I finally just searched google, and after two years of being on the front page of search results, I am now displaced because of EIGHT (8) Replica sites that are now the front page of Google for “Breitling”. That means aside from Breitling’s official site (Position 1), and Wikipedia (Position 6), all the other sites are Replica Breitling sales sites!!!

Now I don’t claim to be a specialist at search engine optomization, and I certainly don’t really pay much attention to it, but that is kind of a funky result. Maybe its because most people searching for Breitling are actually looking for Fakes and Replicas, so that’s what Google is giving them?

Here’s a shot of the Google.com results I get:

Now, I think this is a slap in the face of Breitling in general and all Luxury Goods manufacturers to have the Fake and Replica Breitling sites show up higher than the resources that promote the sale and discussion of the real thing… Am I the only one that feels this way??

Was just reminded of a 2009 Baselworld announcement from Ulysse Nardin… Those of you that have never seen the Ulysse Nardin Chairman Luxury Hybrid Smart Phone should take a peek at this thing. Its still not out yet and still on preorder, and its been over a year.

• Google Android mobile phone platform
• 3.2″ capacitive touch screen with full on screen QWERTY keyboard and physical numeric keys
• Fingerprint reader for owner identification and phone lock
• 8 megapixel camera
• High definition video replay capability
• YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, Google talk and Facebook preloaded
• Qualcomm 3G GSM/WCDMA – 2G Bands 850/900/1800/1900MHz 3G Bands 900/2100MHz
• Smartphone platform powered by the Freescale i.MX processor
• 32 GB internal memory
• Extensive gaming ability
• Up to 8 hours talk time and 30 days standby time
• Ulysse Nardin Rotor (kinetic power system) and Crown (for winding the phone) i.e. generating additional electrical power to the battery

One of the many debated topics on the Breitlingsource Forums is whether or not it is appropriate to wear your Breitling watches on a rubber strap, particularly the Diver Pro rubber, especially when the watch is not one of the Dive or Professional models. In particular, I’m talking about models like ones from the Windrider and Breitling for Bentley series of watches.

I had been hankering for another Breitling Headwind since I sold mine, and was really hoping to get one with a white dial. So, when I saw a Headwind on Diver Pro Rubber, I had to snag it – even it was on rubber! My first Breitling purchase in quite a while, since I got married almost a year ago and had the matching Breitling SuperOcean Heritage watches engraved.

The beautiful white dial is probably one of the nicest I’ve seen in this price range. The technique used to create the Headwind dials, particularly the blue and white ones, is amazing. Patek Philippe of course makes superiorly finished dials

I have always loved the precisely machined crowns on the older Windrider models like the Headwind. They are cut more sharply and the high quality is easily seen in the crown and much harder to duplicate. As you can see from these close-up shots, the Headwind shows quite well on the diver pro rubber.

Now this shot really shows the rubber and headwind combination. I used to be anti-rubber on my Breitling watches, but I’ve really warmed up to this one, and have seletected it as my Vacation watch for my upcoming trip to Asia. This means I will have to use this same watch every day for over two weeks! This is not an easy task for me!

As you can see, it has the newer Diver Pro with the raised logo on the buckle. I often prefer not to use the keeper that is built-into the buckle, as it makes the watch harder to remove and put on, and usually the extra security isn’t necessary. I do use it when I am swimming with it.

Overall, a very good presentation on Rubber, at least in my opinion. I don’t think I would wear my Breitling for Bentley on Rubber, but this Headwind does seem to work for me!

Swiss watchmaker Marc Jenni has launched his own brand of watches, with the first being the Prologue. The watch is available in 18K white and rose gold, and uses the Marc Jenni Caliber 2010 movement. The movement looks like a base movement of some sort, though I’m not sure.

There are some modifications to the mechanism as there is no crown. Instead, the black rubberized ring that encircles the entire watch can be gripped and rotated. Rotating the ring either winds the watch, sets the time, or sets the date – depending on the setting, which is determined by pushing the button at 4 o’clock. The mode is indicated on the dial.

Quite an interesting watch, with a unique difference.

Just posted a video review of the Daniel JeanRichard Chronograph watch. This is the TV Screen Chrono with the ETA 2824 with Chronograph Module movement. Its a pillow shaped 38mm watch, and looks great. Enjoy the review!

Curious as to how many fewer watches were imported from Switzerland to the USA in 2009? 37.9% less. That’s a lot of percent.

Now, most people would have thought that a lot of Swiss Watchmakers would have gone out of business because of this, but surprisingly, most of the bigger ones are still going strong. This either means that most of that drop was from smaller retailers, or these Watchmaking giants have HUGE mark-ups on their product!

At any rate, it is an enourmous blow to the Swiss Watch Industry and Watch Sales in the USA for sure. Makes me wonder how much retailers were lying to me when I walked into watch stores during the recession and when I asked “How’s Business?” every single one told me “Its Great! Like there is no recession! Amazing isn’t it?”. Kind of turns me off the salesmen there since they flat out lie to us.

Any way.. interesting states. Some countries, mainly ones in Europe, only had small decreases such as France, Italy and Germany, all hovering around 13-14%.

Hopefully 2010 will be a good year.

Well, even though last year was a hellish year for Swiss Watches, Ralph Lauren Watches picked that year to enter the market with their line of watches. Now with a year under their belt, they continue to expand their line of watches. They have three lines: Stirrup, Slim Classique and Sporting.

All of Ralph Lauren’s watches are Swiss Made, and feature some fairly unique movements such as the RL750 Chronograph movement designed by Jaeger LeCoultre for Ralph Lauren.